


A Canadian Detour

by BadWolfRose (BadWolf1988)



Category: Dog The Bounty Hunter
Genre: Canada, Christian Character, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Requested Story, Romance, Snow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2018-12-22 21:17:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 4,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11975208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWolf1988/pseuds/BadWolfRose
Summary: A chance encounter on a snowboarding vacation leads to happily ever after.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Christlove88](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Christlove88/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I don't know Leland Chapman and I think he owns himself but Jamie is really starting to make me wonder...
> 
> Authors Note: This story is being written on request of @Christlove88. She's my awesome sauce beta reader so she gets a full-length story...that she's also forced to beta read as I go.

 

“Brah, are you gonna freakin' mope like this the entire time?” Duane Lee huffed as he took his seat on the plane.

“Dude, I just got divorced... again.” Leland turned away from the window. “I'm allowed to be a little fucking depressed.”

“Yeah, but you weren't at fault. Jamie played you from the word go, Leland.” Duane Lee was using his big brother voice now so Leland knew he must be acting truly pathetic. “That divorce was a blessing for you. Dakota's talking to you again and so is Cobie. Lynette was willing to go back to 50/50 custody of Leiah instead of you just having her during the summers. Hell, even Maui feels bad enough for you that she's stopped talking trash.”

“Just what I want... my exes feeling sorry for me,” Leland grumbled before turning back to look out the window. “Why do I have so many of those anyway?”

“Because you think with the wrong head and fall in love too easily. You also don't seem to realize that easy women usually have some kind of agenda or emotional problems or both,” Duane Lee rattled off.

Leland turned to glare at him again. “That was a rhetorical question, Dr. Phil... and if you think you're helping, you're failing miserably.”

Leland already felt like a piece of shit father for the fighting and alienation his marriage to Jamie had caused. And it wasn't like he didn't know that most decent women would run screaming from a man with his past. Two ex-wives and three kids from two different women really didn't paint a great picture for potential dates. Why the hell was his brother reminding him of all of this?

“Yeah, well, maybe if you hear it, you won't fall for another Jamie.”

Leland raised his right hand and gave his brother the one-fingered salute... just as the flight attendant walked past. The young woman glared at him before stomping away angrily.

“Ma'am, that wasn't aimed at you!” Duane Lee leaned over his armrest to call up the aisle. “My brother's just an idiot!” When the flight attendant simply closed the curtain behind her and ignored him, he sat back up and fixed a glare on his younger brother. “Seriously, dude? Your way of fixing your luck with women is to flip the bird that doesn't fly to the first pretty woman you see?”

“That was meant for you!”

“Either way, I'd still check my in-flight meal for glass if I were you.” Duane Lee slipped on his headphones as the pilot's voice came over the intercom system.

“Welcome aboard  _Air Canada_  flight 1988 non-stop from Orlando to Ontario...”

 

 

**_[MY WEBSITE](http://www.badwolfrose.com) _ **


	2. Chapter 2

It was bitterly cold when they landed in Ontario but what else would you expect in early December? Not to mention the fact that Leland and Duane Lee were used to tropical climates, first in Hawaii and then in Florida. After his divorce, Leland had started spending more and more time with his older brother in the Sunshine State. If he wasn't in Hawaii with his kids making up for lost time, he was hanging out with Duane Lee.

“The guy's pulling the car around now.” Duane Lee came and met him on the curb. He had been inside the airport renting a car while Leland got their bags. “Damn, it's cold out here.” He rubbed his hands together.

“You were the one who suggested a Christmas snowboarding vacation in Canada,” Leland reminded him. “You were bored with Colorado.”

“You were the one who agreed,” Duane Lee shot back as a black Range Rover pulled up and the rent-a-car guy got out.

As they were loading their bags into the rear hatch of the SUV, Leland spotted the flight attendant from the plane heading for the parking lot. Feeling the need to apologize, Leland told his brother he'd be right back and jogged to catch up to her.

“Hey, wait up!” he called.

The woman glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes but still did as he asked. When she turned around and Leland really looked at her for the first time, he discovered that Duane Lee was right... he had flipped off a very pretty girl. She wasn't tall, she was the cute kind of short. She had reddish-blonde hair and had glasses covering her beautiful hazel-green eyes.

“What?” She put her hands on her hips. “If you think you just had a long flight, please remember that I've made the same trip twice in the last 24 hours and just want to go home.”

Leland came to stand in front of her and stuffed his freezing hands into the pockets of his cargo pants. “I just wanted to apologize for what happened before take-off, I was aiming that at my brother and you seemed to avoid my section afterwards...”

The woman laughed, “probably because I work in coach and you were in first class, Mr. Chapman.”

“You know who I am?” he asked in surprise.

She nodded, “yeah, and while your apology is accepted... I kind of expected better from you, Leland.” She smirked before walking away.

Why the hell did her words sting so much?

“Daaammmnnn.” Leland looked up to find that Duane Lee had pulled up behind him in the Range Rover. “I like her!” He laughed, hanging out the window.

This time, Leland made sure no one else was around before flipping off his brother.

 

[ **_MY WEBSITE_ ** ](http://www.badwolfrose.com)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta reader @Christlove88


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** _I know the Big Bang Theory lines used in this chapter are from two different episodes. Can we please overlook that?_

 

 **Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory is copyright © Chuck Lorre and CBS Television. All dialogue from the show is in the italics._

 

 

“So, let me get this straight,” Meghan's best friend, Shelby, laughed from her place on the couch. “Leland Chapman, the man you've had a crush on since you were eighteen, was a passenger on your flight and gave you the finger?”

 

“No,” Meghan grabbed the television remote off of the coffee table and sat down next to her. “He gave Duane Lee the finger and I walked by at the wrong moment.” She turned on the TV and flipped to CTV so she could watch _The Big Bang Theory_.

 

“And when the man literally chased you down to say that he was sorry, you were a total bitch to him? Smooth move, moron.” Shelby hit her with a couch pillow.

 

“ _For future reference, if I want to watch Mean Girls, I'll just stream it on Netflix.”_

 

Meghan laughed and pointed at the TV, “What Sheldon said!”

 

Shelby's mouth fell open, “Oh my gosh! You're so socially awkward that you're the female Sheldon!”

 

“ _For the record, it could kill us to meet new people. They could be murderers or the carriers of unusual pathogens. And I'm not insane, my mother had me tested.”_

 

“I am NOT that bad,” Megan protested. “Besides, unlike Sheldon, I'm usually careful of other people's feelings and I'm a Christian. Not to mention, Amy is the female Sheldon.”

 

“Sheldon was raised Christian and Amy is NOT the female Sheldon, she's her own special kind of weird,” Shelby argued back.

 

Meghan suddenly burst out laughing. “I can't believe we're actually having this argument,” she said once she had regained control of herself. “How did we get from Leland to _The Big Bang Theory_ anyway?”

 

“No idea,” Shelby shook her head and chuckled.

 

“See, this is why I invited you to spend Christmas with me. You make me laugh and forget my problems.” Meghan said as there was a knock on her apartment door.

 

“I'll get it,” Shelby got to her feet.

 

While her friend answered the door, Meghan made her way into the small kitchen to make some popcorn. She had just put the Jiffy Pop on the stove when she heard, “Holy crap on a cracker! Meghan! You are NOT going to believe this!”

 

 

_**[MY WEBSITE](http://www.badwolfrose.com) ** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta reader, Meghan (Christlove88)


	4. Chapter 4

_“Holy crap on a cracker! Meghan! You are NOT going to believe this!”_

Forgetting all about the popcorn on the stove, Meghan hurried to the front door to see what had Shelby so worked up. She found her friend setting a large case containing orange tulips on the entrance table next to the front door.

“Where in the world did those come from?” she asked.

“I don't know, but they're for you,” Shelby said excitedly as she handed over a small red envelope with her name on it.

Knowing of no one who would be sending her flowers, Meghan took the envelope and opened it. When she read the card, she thought she must have been dreaming.

_***Meghan,_

_I played the celebrity card with the airline and got your name and address. I hope you don't mind. I want to say I was sorry again for what happened on the plane. I'm hoping that second impressions are better than firsts. Do you think you'd be interested in letting me take you to dinner to make it up to you? Give me a call if you're interested. 555-1207._

_The idiot from the plane,_

_Leland***_

“Who's it from?” Shelby asked.

Meghan simply handed over the card, still in a bit of a daze. Leland Chapman had gone through the trouble of finding out her name and address to ask her out. She had his phone number. She really hadn't thought these kinds of things happened in real life.

“Holy shit!” Shelby yelled.

“Okay, it's awesome, but is the language necessary?” Meghan gave her friend a strange look.

“No! The kitchens on fire, you nitwit!”

Turning around and looking down the hallway, Meghan saw that her friend was right. The jiffy pop had caught on fire on the stove. Both women ran to the kitchen just before the smoke detector started going off. Meghan grabbed a pot holder and grabbed the handle of the flaming popcorn container while Shelby turned on the sink. Dropping the container in the sink, the flames were extinguished. Shelby stood on a chair to clear smoke from the detector with a magazine while Meghan opened the kitchen windows.

“From now on,” Shelby had to pause to cough, “you are only allowed to buy microwave popcorn.”

“Oh, shut up!”

Shelby rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You go and call lover boy while I find some air freshener and try and get the smell of burnt popcorn out of here.”

 

_**[MY WEBSITE](http://www.badwolfrose.com) ** _


	5. Chapter 5

“Leland, dude,” Duane Lee huffed, “if you look down at your phone one more time, I'm throwing it in the damn pitcher.”

“Huh?” Leland looked up from his phone. He hadn't heard a word that his brother had said.

Duane Lee reached out and took the phone. “If she calls, she calls. If she doesn't... it's because you flipped her off at thirty thousand feet.” He shrugged and took a sip of his beer. The brothers were in the small bar located in the lobby of their ski resort having a few drinks before heading up to their suite for the night.

“We were still on the ground, asshole,” Leland rudely corrected.

“For real, brah... what's with you and this chick?”

“She knew who I was and she didn't fawn all over me,” Leland tried to explain his feelings although he didn't think he was doing a very good job. “She told me off... and she's gorgeous.”

Duane Lee raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Let me get this straight... you're attracted to this woman because she's pretty and she yelled at you?”

“Uh...yeah?” Okay, it sounded a little strange to Leland too.

“Brah... I think Jamie broke you.” Duane Lee shook his head just as Leland's phone started ringing. “Hey, you know anyone that lives in Ontario?” he smirked after checking the display.

“Give me the phone, you dick!” Leland snatched the device before quickly answering it. “Meghan?”

“Noooo, you don't sound like a lovesick puppy at all,” Duane Lee mocked under his breath.

Leland tossed a coaster at his brother's head which earned him a glare from the bartender. The old man was probably trying to figure out if he needed to cut the two of them off. “Have you given any thought to going out to dinner with me?” he listened to Meghan's response and his spirits sank. “Oh, your best friend's in town?” He suddenly got an idea and smirked at Duane Lee.

“Hell no!” Duane Lee violently shook his head. “Do NOT drag me into this! I'm on freakin' vacation, dude!”

“Well, how about we make it a double date? Me and you and Duane Lee and Shelby?” Leland completely ignored his older brother's wishes.

“Leland Blaine Chapman, I'm going to murder you in cold blood.” Duane Lee glared at him.

“Awesome! Tomorrow night? We'll pick you ladies up at seven.” Leland smiled as he ended the call.

“Sleep with one eye open tonight, little brother,” Duane Lee instructed as he grabbed the pitcher and refilled his glass.

 

 

**_[MY WEBSITE](http://www.badwolfrose.com) _ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta reader, Meghan (Christlove88)


	6. Chapter 6

Meghan hung up the phone with a giddy smile on her face. She had a date with Leland Chapman and Shelby had a date with Duane Lee. The smile dropped from her face. She had just set her pathologically shy best friend up on a blind date with a reality star. Her parents might as well pick a funeral home and buy a burial plot because Shelby was going to kill her.

Taking a deep breath, she exited her bedroom and slowly marched to her death. She found Shelby in the living room, intermittently opening windows and spraying apple-cinnamon air freshener to get rid of the scent of her little cooking mishap. It didn't seem to be doing much good. It smelled like an elf had burnt popcorn in Santa's workshop.

Meghan must have had a guilty look on her face because Shelby suddenly stopped what she was doing, set the air freshener can on the windowsill and placed her hands on her hips. “Meghan Bretyn, what did you do?”

“So... I have a date with Leland tomorrow night,” she eased into it. Maybe if her best friend was excited for her, she wouldn't be that ticked off.

“And you look like the kid that got caught with her hand in the cookie jar because…?” Shelby was staring her down.

“Because I felt guilty going out without you so I setyouupwithDuaneLe,” she said the last part in a rush.

“Come again?” Shelby tapped her foot.

Meghan sighed, “I felt guilty going out without you while you're in the country so I kinda sorta set you up with Duane Lee.”

Shelby's eyes went wide and her mouth fell open.

“Come on, you've seen ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’,” Meghan rushed to add. “Duane Lee is a sweetheart, a big teddy bear. Heck, he has his life more in order than Leland does. He even stood up to Beth.”

“Good for Duane Lee!” Shelby snapped. “Why the hell are you and Leland dragging us into this demented little flirtation the two of you have going on?!”

“Please,” Meghan lowered herself to begging now. “I will never ask you for anything ever again and I'll do anything you want.”

“Fine,” Shelby replied through gritted teeth. “But I want season eleven of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ on blu-ray for Christmas.”

“Done!”

 

[ **_MY WEBSITE_ ** ](http://www.badwolfrose.com)


	7. Chapter 7

“Dude, are you going to be pissy with me all day?” Leland huffed as he pulled on his snow boots. “It's one freakin' date, you'll live, I promise.”

“I still don't see why you had to drag me into this,” Duane Lee complained as he set their snowboards by the front door of the suite. “All of this for a woman who doesn't even seem to like you very much. What if the friend is a dog?”

“Meghan's hot, I'm sure her friend is too,” Leland shrugged as got to his feet.

“Pretty girls can have ugly friends, Leland!” Duane Lee snapped in frustration. “I want to see a picture or I'm not going.”

“A picture?” Leland was dumbfounded. How the hell did he get one of those without calling Meghan and making his older brother sound like the shallow dick he was acting like?

“Yeah, a picture.” Duane Lee nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “For all I know you set me up with Medusa's less attractive sister.”

Remembering that he had friended Meghan on Facebook the night before, Leland pulled out his phone and hoped that Shelby was on her friend's list. His girl had a lot of friends and it took him a few minutes but he finally found Shelby. “Look,” he thrust the phone at his brother. “She's pretty.”

“Oh, and redheads tend to be feisty.” Duane Lee was impressed with what he saw.

In the elevator on their way down to the lobby, Duane Lee asked, “how old is Shelby? She looks young.”

Leland was stumped. “I don't know.”

Duane Lee rolled his eyes. “Let's try again. Leland, how old is Meghan?”

“I don't know,” Leland replied again. “Mid to late twenties, I think.”

“Okay, we're going out with two smoking hot chicks tonight and we have no idea if they're even old enough to drink.” Duane Lee reached up and smacked his little brother upside the head. “You're a real freakin' genius.”

Leland rubbed the back of his head. He was feeling pretty damn foolish. He'd been so caught up in his fascination with Meghan that he'd completely overlooked asking the basics. If he hadn't have gotten her last name from her boss, he probably wouldn't have known that either.

The elevator doors opened and they stepped into the lobby. The look of amusement that came over Duane Lee's face couldn't bode well for him. “Well, I guess we can ask the ladies ourselves because they're here.” He pointed.

Leland looked where he was pointing just in time to see Meghan and Shelby being led into the resort's spa by an attendant.

Yep. Duane Lee was totally going to embarrass him in front of his dream girl. Perfect.

 

 

_**[MY WEBSITE](http://www.badwolfrose.com) ** _


	8. Chapter 8

“I can't believe that I let you talk me into this.” Meghan eyed the tanning bed distastefully. “Don't you think it's going to look a little weird, us having tans in December?”

Shelby rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “You have complained about everything so far.”

“I hate spas,” Meghan argued back. “And I had a right to complain about the waxing. That was pure torture!” She was a freakin' virgin for crying out loud. It wasn't like Leland was even going to get THAT far. She was starting to think that she had somehow unknowingly pissed off Shelby and now her friend was torturing her for kicks.

“Just get in the tanning bed before I lock your stubborn ass in there,” Shelby huffed.

It was another hour and a half, full of uncomfortable beauty treatments and cancer in a box, before Meghan was finally allowed to escape the hell that was masquerading as a day spa. The first thing she spotted upon exiting was the resort's bar. She made a b-line for it. A screwdriver sounded really good in that moment.

“Where are you going?” Shelby asked as she followed her.

“You've driven me to drink,” Meghan grumbled. “I can't believe you made me go to a damn spa.”

“Hey,” Shelby laughed as they arrived at the bar. “If I'm being forced to go on a blind date, I at least want to look good.”

Meghan rolled her eyes. “You looked perfectly fine before our little descent into the 9th lair of hell. Vanity's a sin, you know.”

Shelby actually snorted she laughed so hard. “Spare me. You're Christian but you're not THAT Christian.”

“And it's not really a blind date,” Meghan pointed out as the bartender laid their drinks in front of them. “You know exactly what Duane Lee looks like. Heck, you've gone inside his house on episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter.”

Shelby took a sip of her cosmo before asking, “you're in one of those moods where you're going to argue with everything I say no matter what, aren't you?”

Meghan took a long drink out of her glass before replying. “Yep and it's your own fault for dragging me here.”

“You're going out with Leland Chapman tonight. Shouldn't you be excited?”

“I'll be excited later. Right now, I wanna be annoyed with you.”

Shelby smirked. It looked like something behind Meghan's head had caught her attention. “Well, you might want to rearrange your schedule because I think our dates are about to start early.”

Meghan turned around on her bar stool. Sure enough, Leland and Duane Lee had just walked in and the two of them were headed their way.

 

 

_**[MY WEBSITE](http://www.badwolfrose.com)** _


	9. Chapter 9

Meghan was damn near hyperventilating. When Leland and Duane Lee met them at the bar, the first thing the men had suggested was that the four of them move to a booth in a corner of the small establishment. Not surprisingly, Meghan ended up seated next to Leland while Shelby was paired up with Duane Lee... who didn't look too unhappy about the seating arrangements. The men's forgotten snowboards were propped up against the wall beside the booth.

“So, what brings you, ladies, here this afternoon?” Duane Lee started the conversation.

“Spa day,” Shelby replied. “This place has the best spa in all of Canada, I swear.”

“More like Helga's House of Pain,” Meghan grumbled as she took a sip of her drink to help calm her nerves.

“Helga's House of Pain?” Leland asked after a laugh.

Meghan jerked her thumb in the general direction of the torture chamber. “Everything they do to you in there hurts and the lady who gave me my facial looked like Helga from that old ' _Hey Arnold_ ' cartoon.”

Leland and Duane Lee both burst out in laughter. The waiter, who arrived at the same moment had to wait a full thirty seconds before the men calmed down enough to place their drink orders.

“Well,” Duane Lee turned and winked at Shelby, making her blush. “If Meghan won't go with you, you can always call me.”

“That sounds like fun,” Shelby replied with a shy smile.

“And while these two weirdos,” Leland nodded his head at the couple seated across from them, “pay way too much money to have strangers rub on them when they would probably have way more fun rubbing each other for free, you and me can go and do something normal... like bowling.”

This got Meghan to actually laugh. “That sounds like way more fun,” she agreed.

“Hey, don't hate on us because we like to feel beautiful,” Duane Lee said faux haughtily.

The waiter arrived back to deliver the men's drinks just as Duane Lee spoke and gave their group a weird look before departing as quickly as humanly possible.

“I think we're starting to scare that poor man,” Meghan laughed.

“I'll leave him a good tip,” Leland promised.

“You know, bowling actually sounds like a lot of fun right now,” Shelby spoke up. “Meghan, is that place we used to go in college still open?”

Meghan nodded, “I think so. I haven't been in years. Last I heard, it had been converted into a black light bowling ally.”

“Let's go check it out,” Leland suggested, throwing some cash on the table to cover their tab and to compensate the waiter for putting up with them.

 

 

_**[MY WEBSITE](http://www.badwolfrose.com) ** _

 


	10. Chapter 10

When the small group had arrived at the bowling alley, Duane Lee and Shelby had split off from them and gotten their own bowling lane. Instead of getting a lane themselves, Leland and Meghan had made their way into the small arcade area where they spent an hour challenging each other at different games. Leland seemed to be a master of Pac-Man while Meghan was, it turned out, a real-life pinball wizard (insert Elton John's song from The Who musical 'Tommy' here). When they had dropped their last few tokens into the 'Deal or No Deal' machine, they ended up picking the million dollar case. This resulted in them winning 1500 tickets. The arcade attendant was shocked. Apparently, that was the first time anyone had ever won the top prize in the three years that the machine had been in the arcade. After dispensing roughly 900 tickets, the machine had actually run out. It was while the arcade attendant was changing the ticket roll that Duane Lee and Shelby reappeared.

“Whoa,” Duane Lee said when he saw the mountain of tickets on the floor that Leland and Meghan were attempting to gather up. “Congrats are in order, I see. You two are king and queen of the arcade. It's like a cheesy 80's rom-com.”

Depositing a large stack of tickets on the reward counter, Leland glanced around to make sure no kids were looking before flipping off his older brother for what was probably the millionth time in his life.

“No, bad Leland.” Duane Lee waved a finger at him. “That's how poor Meghan got stuck with you in the first place. No more giving the finger for you.”

Meghan laughed as she dropped another pile of tickets on the counter. As she was walking back to the sea of tickets on the floor, she was surprised when Leland caught her around the waist and pulled her into his side. “Don't laugh at him, baby,” he kissed her cheek. “He's like an attention starved toddler. If you laugh, he'll keep doing it.”

“Doing what exactly?” Duane Lee raised an eyebrow.

“Being a moron.”

When Meghan laughed this time, Leland gave her waist an affectionate squeeze.

Duane Lee rolled his eyes. “We were looking for you guys because we were hoping you two wouldn't mind us taking off in Shelby's car. I'll leave you the keys to the rental.”

“It's cool with me if it's cool with you, babe.” Leland looked down at Meghan questioningly.

“Yeah,” Meghan nodded before digging her key ring out of her purse. “I don't know which one of us will get back to the apartment first so take this.” She handed Shelby her spare key.

“Alright, I'll text you if I'll be out too late so you don't worry,” Shelby said as she pocketed the key. “You be careful and do the same please.”

“Don't worry,” Leland assured her. “I'll make sure my girl gets home safe.” He once again kissed Meghan's cheek.

Okay, what was up with him? He had been acting like he was Meghan's boyfriend ever since they had left the bar. There was no way this sweet, affectionate guy was the real Leland Chapman. If it was, he wouldn't be divorced two times over with a spare baby momma to boot. Meghan felt her walls go up and she went from happy and carefree to scared and on her guard in the blink of an eye.

 

 

_**[MY WEBSITE](http://www.badwolfrose.com) ** _

 


End file.
